Haworth Tompkins have taken part in a virtual event with The Social Mobility Foundation about COVID and the Built Environment. Several studio members gave presentations on various aspects of our work over the past eighteen months. Nick Royce spoke about HT; our structure and how we use working groups to improve the way we function, design and respond to challenges.
Deeksha Audukoori, Diana Al-laham and Sian Bahia highlighted their differing routes to working at the practice, covering various subjects including school and university projects, applying for jobs and now working remotely. Alex Cox related the practice’s record on reacting to the climate emergency, alongside focusing on three of our in progress projects, and how they have been changed by the pandemic.
Nick and Alex then led two workshops looking at the ways in which we could improve the pandemic resilience of two of our built projects; Silchester and the Bridge Theatre. Students contributed ideas to a live mark-up of a set of drawings considering how the buildings were already suited to various pandemic safety criteria, such as the presence of open spaces and natural ventilation. Improvements were then suggested as to how the buildings could be future proofed, with space for working from home and social distancing measures in place.
Haworth Tompkins' model maker Ellie Sampson has been selected by the Architects' Journal as part of the AJ100 New Talent list, their celebration of 14 exceptional Part II architectural assistants. Ellie initially joined the practice as a Part I in 2015, and rejoined in 2018, becoming our full-time model maker and workshop manager in 2019. Her style often combines varied processes, from detailed paper and laser cutting to 3D printing and casting. Ellie also runs model making workshops at schools and universities including The Bartlett, LSA and Oxford Brookes, and Oslo and Manchester Schools of Architecture.
Theatr Clwyd has received listed building and planning consent for the major redevelopment of their base in Mold, north Wales. The theatre, built in 1976 and Grade II listed in 2019, will be reconfigured and updated by repurposing the existing fabric and demolishing and replacing only what is necessary. The Inspector of Historic Buildings concluded that our proposals are ‘very much in the spirit and vision of the original concept’ representing ‘an attractive and well-designed scheme which will allow the building to function in a more modern and efficient way to allow for its preservation and continued use’.
The Old Vic is holding a public consultation this Saturday on their plans for The Annex, a social and creative arts hub, adjacent and connected to the theatre. In addition to The Annex, the scheme includes significant upgrades to Back of House areas: improving Stage Door, dressing room and stage access, making the theatre accessible and inclusive to all for the first time in its 203-year history. Plans for the new build Annex include a triple height cafe-bar and script library, a new Clore Learning Centre and a flexible Studio space, providing facilities for increased and more diverse artistic output, community outreach, education, and hospitality events.
Work is starting on site this week on the new home for theatre company Punchdrunk. The company’s first permanent base is in south east London - part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich’s new creative district, Woolwich Works. Our project involves internal works to three Grade II Listed Buildings and also the construction of a temporary entrance pavilion. Tickets for their first production in the space, The Burnt City, are now on sale with the show opening next Spring.
Battersea Arts Centre has been awarded the Roof Slating and Tiling Award from The Worshipful Company of Tylers and Bricklayers, one of the historic Livery Companies in the City Of London. The awards, given every three years, recognise craftspeople in the construction industry and their specialist knowledge and skills.
Kingston School of Art, our project for Kingston University has won a RIBA London Award. RIBA praised the ‘vibrant and imaginative exemplar of conservation in its truest sense’ as ‘a call to arms to love our existing buildings in all their shapes and sizes, and make them beautiful and functional once again.’ The project, already the recipient of AJ Retrofit and BREEAM awards, ‘should set a new standard in architecture today’.
Two of our projects have been shortlisted for the Open City Stewardship Awards. The awards, in conjunction with Construction Declares, acknowledge explicitly that the answers cannot lie only in the design and construction of new things, but in the maintenance, care and adaptation of existing places. Kingston School of Art is recognised in the Materials and Resource Management category, and Liverpool Everyman Theatre for Post-occupancy in Practice.
Haworth Tompkins, in collaboration with Architecture 00 and LDA, are working with the Royal Docks Team (a joint initiative between the Mayor of London and the Mayor of Newham) on the Royal Victoria West study. The commission, won through an Architecture Design and Urbanism Panel 2 (ADUP2) competitive process, is to formulate a masterplan strategy and placemaking vision for this area of the Royal Docks.